When God Is For Us

What do you do when you just can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel? When all your hope is lost, and the only thing you see is your problem standing in the way of life. Do you just give in and give up? What is your “go-to” solution when all else fails?

In 1 Peter, chapter 5:6-7 reads this:

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

How can we stay humble, when life doesn’t seem to be going our way? Do we stand in the way of God’s master plan in order to get what we want out of our circumstances? How do we step down from the throne and allow God to be in charge? It’s not easy, yet it’s so simple.

When we are faced with a trial of any kind, we must be alert and awakened to the fact that we are at war. Our minds can be an awful thing, especially if we don’t take a stand for what is true and what is right in the sight of the Lord. Our adversaries can be the result of our own doing, someone else’s’, the enemies or even God’s.

Our focus shouldn’t be on the problem at hand, instead, it should be on the powerful, loving God we serve. You may be asking yourselves, “Why would God allow this to happen?” The truth is, we may never understand why God allows certain things to happen, however, it is our responsibility to ask the Lord how He would handle a situation. We can’t assume full responsibility for handling a situation on our own, or else we would be ignorant of the fact that God is willing to help us. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.

And then in verses 8-11, we read:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I’m so glad to know that I don’t have to face my difficulties alone. There are so many people who have lived through similar situations as I have, and I can learn so much from how they handled the situation, whether it be good or bad. If no one out there has been through what I have, I can be certain that Jesus knows every detail of what I’m going through. He came to live on this earth for a time, just to experience the pain, suffering, and temptations that you and I deal with. His desire is to shape you into becoming more like Himself, one who is blameless and walks uprightly in the sight of God.

It can be so easy to fall into that trap of feeling sorry for ourselves once we’ve experienced something unpleasant. Believe me, I have faced a number of days where I just wanted to crawl into a whole so that no one would see me. But that’s not what God’s intention is or was when He created you and I. When He designed us, He made it possible for you and I to become dependent on Him for everything, not just in hard times but also in the good ones.

So as believers, we must respond to the call of being obedient and trusting the Lord to help us in our difficult circumstances. It’s not easy, I get that. I understand that it takes faith to believe that the Lord can really help us. But isn’t that the whole point? Faith? The simplicity of knowing that even when I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, God is still in control and has a plan for my life. How amazing is that? Just because I can’t see the future, doesn’t mean God can’t. He knows our end result and wants to lead us to that place in a victorious way. So why don’t we give Him a chance to do that?

This weekend, I was in a bit of a rut. I was dealing with the same issues I had with my digestive system in the past, but only this time things were a bit different. In terms of the way I responded to the situation, that is. You see, when I was faced with the problem the first time, I went haywire. I was so anxious, upset, and didn’t know what to do or how do approach the situation. I didn’t even know how to pray because I was so focused on the problem in front of me. But then, the same situation occurred for the second time, and a third, and a fourth. Soon enough, it’s like I became immune to what was happening in my digestive system because I had lived through it so many times. Eventually, I reached a point where I just had to throw up my hands and say “Lord, you’re in control.”

From then on, I experienced a peace like no other. Soon, I was singing and dancing and just rejoicing at how God had done such a wonderful work in me. He taught me things about myself during that hard season that I would have never been able to understand unless I walked through that difficulty. So now, as I begin to experience the same kind of difficulty, I have a choice to either respond in a godly-way or let the situation overtake me and my emotions. The devil would be quite thrilled if I chose to let the situation grab a hold of my joy and peace, but the Lord is patiently waiting for me to chose His way.

Allow me this opportunity to pray for you, and to encourage you in your situation of difficulty. I know it’s not always easy to see the “good” in every situation, but can you just trust that there is a God who loves when His people come to Him in humility, asking for His forgiveness, for His mercy, for His grace? We can take such comfort in knowing that when all the odds seem to be against us, the Lord is working on our behalf to bring us into that place of restoration and peace.

4 Comments

Yes Shauna, I agree! Just a word from this morning’s devotion, I was reading 1 Peter chapter 5 again, and it mentions how God may allow certain situations to take place in our lives to shape us more into becoming like Jesus. When we see it from this perspective, we can be more encouraged to rest and be at peace because we know He is working all things together for our good.